Input for my Output

So, I have a story in my head...I am excited because it's my favorite genre, Historical Fiction. But, the biggest challenge is to get a reader to continue reading after the first couple of paragraphs...Would you want to continue reading?

Spain 1557

      In the dark chamber I wait for word of my husband's death. Praying that it is quick and nothing short of honorable, I clutch his old leather bound Bible upon my lap. With all that has passed, this treasure gave him hope. He knelt at morning and night, with these pages filling his heart and mind. And from those places, it overflowed to me, across our languages, beyond my customs. Its teachings surround me now, my only comfort in the days to come. More comfort than the other treasure upon my chest.
      I lift my empty hand to the medallion and trace the carvings of my blood kin. Intricate, powerful, honored in a different place. But the hope that spilled forth from the blessed word of God, is not found in this medallion. No, this medallion is a cursed heirloom, one I long to thrust from its chain and toss into the wild sea towards the sun's resting place. But it is all that remains, my only reminder of the yesterday that was once all I knew. The time where my blood flowed among royalty, along the river which was the great snake. I cannot part with this piece hanging from my neck, because it is the only piece of me left.